Belonging is often characterized as an emotional need we all have to feel seen and connected. While this is true, as educators it’s important to expand and contextualize our understanding of what belonging truly means, especially as our nation faces a deep sense of polarization. True belonging calls upon us to cultivate an expansive, compassionate quality where we enlarge our circles of concern and interrogate all the ways in which we consciously and unconsciously engage in acts of othering. Othering includes any action where we mentally classify someone as “not one of us.” In doing so, we dismiss another’s humanity, worth, and dignity.
In a climate of polarization, john a. powell, advises that there are two paths we can take: The path of breaking where we have a small notion of “we” and focus only on “what we know and who we know.” The other path is bridging, where we challenge ourselves to connect, cultivate empathy, understand other perspectives and seek common ground. In bridging, we create a much larger sense of “WE.” Bridging is hard work and the skills and competencies cultivated in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) are the “how” of bridging.
To read article: https://medium.com/inspired-id...earning-fb0a6f639de9
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